Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 2

   As we edged towards dawn, the attack in the north had been cut to ribbons. There was just enough German strength to hold off a half hearted Russian counter attack.

   In the center, my attackers had found some defenders skulking around just south of the Voentorg. We broke one Russian squad and killed another in CC. The main trouble in this area was the wire and mines which slowed down the attack by a few turns.

  By now, stacks of mostly concealed Russian reinforcements had spilled into the area around NKVD/GPU house. I had no real hope of crossing Penzenskaya street now. My new, more modest goal, was to use Mr 10-2 to silence the .50cal in X9 that was causing me problems further down the street.

    A concealed stack moved out into the shellholes across from my 10-2 stack. I thought it was a decoy, there to draw my fire away from X9. I didn't take the bait.

   Turns out, it wasn't actually bait. The Russian flamethrower flipped and routed the whole 10-2 stack. Then he took everything we could throw back at him with 10 gallons of combustibles on his back and nothing but a shellhole to hide in. What a creep.

   This game would be decided in the south.

   As turn six began, we were in position to make the big final push. The Russians got their final reinforcement group.

    Mr 10-3 was commanding a stack with two HMGs in it. A squad and a half (with the one remaining flamethrower) had gained a toehold in a fortified location in the Waterworks.

    I would need some effective fire to break a hole in the Russian wall. HMG stack: boxcars. Random selection: yahtzee.  Flamethrower: boxcars.  That. Hurt.

   We pushed on getting across the street in turn 7, and winning a close combat. The Y17 building was in big trouble, but the Russians in the Waterworks had survived the worst and were hanging on.

   In the top of the 8th I tried to sprint a squad and Mr 10-3 off the east edge. Getting them off would have been worth three stone hexes. The squad pinned, and the leader broke. Ball game.

   In the end the Germans had 21 stone hexes of the needed 26. Had that infantry managed to run off map, I still would have been two hexes short. And to be fair, had we played the bottom of the 8th, the Russian would have taken back one hex unopposed, and as many as 2-3 more with some effort.

  Great scenario. Tense and close. But for a very bad dice streak, it may have been VERY close. It's very large and takes some time, but it's well worth it.

Raid on Rodimtsev AAR Part 1

 We finished Raid on Rodimtsev from the new journal a few weekends ago. The Russians held off the German onslaught with 4+ stone hexes to spare.

  Jim posted an AAR on Gamesquad here.

   For my German attack, I decided that my concentration should be in the south. The southern edge is the only place on the map where the Germans can attack from two sides. It's also the furthest point from the majority of Russian reinforcements. Logic=Awesome.

   The caveat is this: setup restrictions for this scenario force you to be widely spread out at start. The real decisions are about where to place your big weapons. I place both my HMGs, and two of my three flamethrowers in the southern third of the map area.

  My thought in the north was just make some effort, and hope to get lucky. A successful attack along the north edge (i.e., capturing building W1) could be a spectacular development, as it would greatly threaten the Russian reinforcements. Losing ground there would be devastating for the Russians.

  Trouble is, I knew from experience that attacking in the shadow of Pavlov's house was more than a little difficult. Jim had the proper precautions taken, with wire, mines, a MMG, and a 45L covering the German axis of advance. I managed early on to breach a fortified location of the flour mill, and get a squad in the building.

  That would be the high water mark of the attack in the north. Eventually, the well placed Russian weapons and relative lack of cover would wear the German force down.

 In the middle, I wanted to have just enough of a threat to make the Russians play an honest defense. As the game moved along, I hedged on this strategy. I kept the middle elements largely in place, when I would have been better off moving 2-3 squads further south to participate in the main thrust.

  More to come.....